The Adoption of non-Chinese Names as Identity Markers of Chinese International Students in Japan: A Case Study at a Japanese Comprehensive Research University

Abstract

This study explores naming practices among Chinese international students and their relation to personal identity during their sojourn in Japan. Although previous studies have reported that some Chinese international students in English-speaking countries adopt names of Western origin (Cotterill 2020 Cotterill, Simon. 2020. “Call Me Fei: Chinese-Speaking Students’ Decision Whether or Not to Use English Names in Classroom Interaction.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 33, no. 3: 228–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2019.1614598.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Diao 2014 Diao, Wenhao. 2014. “Between Ethnic and English Names: Name Choice for Transnational Chinese Students in a US Academic Community.” Journal of International Students 4, no. 3: 205–222. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1776144300?accountid=12528%5Cn http://search.lib.monash.edu/openurl/MUA/MUL_SERVICES_PAGE?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&sid=ProQ:ProQ:education&atitle=Between+Ethnic+and+Englis.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Edwards 2006 Edwards, Rachel. 2006. “What’s in a Name? Chinese Learners and the Practice of Adopting ‘English’ Names.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 19, no. 1: 90–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310608668756.[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), participants in this study were found to exhibit different naming practices: either adopting names of Japanese or Western origin; or retaining both Western and Japanese names. Drawing on fifteen semi-structured interviews with Mainland Han Chinese students, this investigation examines their motivations for adopting non-Chinese names and determines how personal identities are presented through them. The qualitative analysis reveals that the practice of adopting non-Chinese names is influenced by teacher-student power relations, Chinese conventions for terms of address, pronunciation, and context-sensitivity of personal names. As will be shown in this article, through the respondents’ years of self-exploration, their self-adopted non-Chinese names gradually became internalized personal identity markers that allow the bearers to explore and exhibit personality traits, which might not have been as easily displayed via their Chinese given names.